This page What Royalty Rate Do You Recommend I Use? suggests a royalty of 5-10% which is pathetically low, but if you read the whole entry and between the lines, it's clear that 1) it's not mandatory, you can set your royalty to whatever you want 2) lower royalties = lower overall prices = Zazzle looks more affordable to shoppers 3) using that low 5-10% benefits the customer not you There's a common theory that higher royalties might keep one down in search results. So i just wanted to do a random search to see what royalty percents were in the top results. That by itself proved interesting and then it spiraled into a deeper dive looking at the other factors that most likely weigh in to where something "places" in results.  I searched (on the US domain) for three keywords + product type. I.E. [keyword1 keyword2 keyword3 product_type] NO QUOTES, and then used the "Refine by Category" filter to narrow results down to just that actual product type. That gave me just over 200 results, a number easy to manage for comparison purposes.  I then noted the details for the top 20 results. In the four days I've been compiling the stats on the results, the search results fortunately remained exactly the same. And then I was given the idea to do the same search on other domains. So I did UK and Canada and noted where items placed there compared to searching on the US domain.  Of the top 20 results, I was only able to obtain all the stats for 7 of them. That's 35%. Not enough to draw any "scientific" conclusions, but still super interesting and able to provide some insight.  The first thing to jump out is that in most cases there is an astounding difference in placement depending on domain!  Designers of all Pro levels were included in the top 20. There were two with a generic Pro badge which means they could be anywhere from Basic to Diamond. None of the results were from Designers without at least the basic Pro badge. Does that mean anything? I honestly have no idea.  Royalties ranged from 10 to 25%. Views ranged from 11 to 347. Creation dates ranged from 2014 to 2024. Looking at the meta data: * All of the results have all three of my search keywords somewhere in the meta data. * One of the top 20 (#16) has all three keywords in the title, in the same order I typed them in search * Five of the top 20 have two of the three keywords I searched for in their title, in the same order I typed them in * Ten of the top 20 have none of my keywords in their title, they only appeared in the tags This list is missing 65% of the data but is still interesting and my own personal conclusions, right or wrong, are, in no particular order:: * number of views alone doesn't seem to be a heavily weighted factor * even number sold won't by itself put you at top of results * likewise, Pro level or zRank alone won't put you at the top * having a personal cover image is still relevant/important * royalty % by itself is not keeping items down in search * last sold date might be an extra-weighted factor with more recently sold items placing better * where your strongest keywords appear and in what order compared to what a shopper types in is important So that's it. My conclusions here are just my own opinions based on the limited data of this search, you all may draw your own different conclusions.  ... View more

Etsy’s new Marketplace is a built-in analytics tool similar to Everbee and Amazon Merch Informer. What’s different about this built-in tool is that the information comes directly from Etsy’s customer searches and sales. This provides accurate, timely information to designers. The other third-party apps provide similar information, but those results are best-guess results, as opposed to real results. So, you can see the advantage of having a built-in analytics tool on Zazzle. A tool like this can help designers develop targeted designs and products that have a higher chance of selling, allowing designers to increase their sales. That, in turn, will result in more sales for Zazzle. If this topic isn’t on Zazzle developers’ front burner it should be. It has much more potential than the current attempts to produce less-effective tools — like the new font tool — which hasn’t resulted in improved sales or even improved ease of use. What say you, Zazzle? Can you make it happen? ... View more

Hi Creators, We're excited to share that we've launched an updated design experience that's currently in A/B testing! This represents a significant evolution in how design works on Zazzle, moving toward a unified tool that serves both creators and customers. What's Live Now?: Our design tool experience is being tested, meaning users will see either the current experience or one of three new variants. This tool builds on the features you've been using including frames, grids, design elements, and our royalty-free content library, but is optimized to make design more accessible to customers who may not have your level of design expertise. Your existing post-for-sale flow remains accessible and we intend to improve those workflows as part of the next phase.  Here's a quick demo from Sean walking through the experience: Why This Matters for You: Since this A/B test exposes templates to a new design interface, you may notice that some existing designs work differently in this customer-focused environment.  As an example, to create a smoother customer journey, we’ve improved how “locking” works for layers. Previously , when you locked an object, customers could not unlock the object which caused usability issues when they wanted to make changes. With the new update, both you and your customers can unlock a locked layer. Note, if you originally had a a locked layer, the "disabled" setting is automatically turned on with the update. We’ve added a new toggle called “Disable All Object Interaction” which is located in the “More options” section in the right-hand panel. When enabled, it prevents users from interacting with the layer, and customers cannot change this setting.  Additionally, we’re using the locking feature to automatically hide certain layers, such as large transparent overlays, shields, or borders, that might otherwise interfere with customers trying to upload photos or edit text. After the test concludes, we'll be sharing tips and best practices to help your templates shine in this new experience to maximize customer engagement and conversion.  Looking ahead, this optimized experience is the first step toward a cohesive design tool for everyone on Zazzle, designed to add ease for customers and positively increase conversion to benefit creators. We welcome your thoughts and feedback as you see this experience in action, as your insights help us build better tools for the entire Zazzle community. The team will be reviewing this thread so please weigh in as you’d like.  Thanks for being part of this journey,  The Zazzle Team ... View more

Hi everyone, I’m hoping a Zazzle moderator or experienced creator can help clarify this. I’ve searched through the Creator License Agreement, Help Center, and forum threads but haven’t found a clear answer. My question: If a customer places an order that qualifies for a Marketing Royalty Fee (for example, through Zazzle’s paid ads or an Ambassador link) and then cancels the order before it’s fulfilled, does the creator still get charged the Marketing Royalty Fee? I understand that when an order is cancelled, no royalty is paid out, but it’s not clear whether the marketing fee is still deducted or applied in those cases. Can someone from the Zazzle team please clarify whether marketing fees are reversed when a sale is cancelled? Thank you so much, Victoria Do Tell A Belle ... View more

From client: "Never mind, i had to pay a lot of money to have one card shipped. I will scan it." - how we can avoid this ... View more

I'm a little confused about Hobnob. Is this for Z designer's invites, etc. or are they able to use templates that are only on Hobnob? I hope it's the former.  ... View more

I have customers who have sent me photo of decoupage tissue papers that they have received and the print quality is awful with this new paper. I know that I have everything correct as for uploading with images.  Is anyone else having these issues.  There are so many issues since April  I posted this in technical but have not gotten any responses  Once customer will not be able to use her papers in time to enter a contest due to this.  original before lightened customer framed it is darker https://www.zazzle.com/decoupage_highland_vintage_truck_pumpkins_country_tissue_paper-256636348456049066 The one on the left is not even the one that I uploaded because I can't upload the one for Zazzle because it is to large.  https://www.zazzle.com/decoupage_gothic_vampire_art_tissue_paper-256324234204076263?view=113062202102554994 The one on the left is from the screen and you can see it is lighter the, the middle one is what they got and the one on the far right is the one before I lightened before uploading.    Left is her paper and the one on the right is the one before it was lightened to upload https://www.zazzle.com/decoupage_gnarly_witch_her_black_cat_tissue_paper-256606935661956735    Left is before lightened and sized to upload the right is her papers https://www.zazzle.com/decoupage_pumpkin_jack_o_lantern_halloween_gothic_tissue_paper-256914067614947304   ... View more

Thank you, Zazzle team, for working to resolve this problem.  ... View more

I have 12 unpaid referral royalties since July. A Zazzle moderator recently told us on this forum that the issue with unpaid referral royalties is a known problem. OK, so it’s a known problem - when is this issue going to be addressed and solved? When can Zazzle designers expect to be paid? This is my second request. Thanks. ... View more

I added a line from the Elements section in the Zazzle design tool, but when I try to change its stroke color, it redirects me back to the product page. Is anyone else facing this issue, or knows how to fix it? ... View more

Hello I always chose the same thing (Expressions > Fun & Laughs and Anyone) because none of my merch is really meant to be event or recipient specific.  Thanks ... View more

In my niche, I don't make Halloween products, so I have no stats to go by. But Halloween sales may be a bellwether for the upcoming Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. That's why I'm asking the larger Zazzle community: How were your Halloween sales? Good, bad,  or indifferent? I suspect this holiday season will be a make-or-break one for many Zazzlers sitting on the fence about whether to stay on the platform or go, given the many changes that have been made since April. So, my curiosity is far from idle.  Stats? Thoughts? Comments? ... View more